Qantas Airways grounded its fleet after sporadic strikes by unions, paving the way for Australian aviation’s biggest disruption in two decades, Bloomberg reports.
The grounding of international and domestic operations will keep 108 planes that fly from 22 airports out of the air and cost the carrier A$20m ($21m) a day, chief executive officer Alan Joyce told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.
“Sixty-eight thousand Australians and the tourism industry have been grossly inconvenienced by this high-handed ambush,” Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. today. “There is no case for this radical overreaction. In industrial disputes, sure, employers have views and unions have views, but what I don’t support though is the no-warning nature of what’s happened.”
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The suspension adds to the 600 flights already canceled since union walkouts disrupted traveling plans for 70,000 passengers. Among those without flights are 17 heads of state at a conference in Perth. Joyce, 45, calling the unions’ campaign for higher pay and job-security clauses “impossible demands,” said he’s ready to halt operations until workers relent. An overnight hearing by the nation’s labour tribunal, which ended without resolution after three hours, will resume at 2 pm today in Melbourne.
“If this action continues as the unions have promised, we will have no choice but to close down Qantas part by part,” Joyce said. “The airline will be grounded as long as it takes to reach a conclusion.”
Workers at Qantas from three labor unions will be locked out from 8pm Oct 31 “until further notice,” Joyce said.
Qantas, Australia’s largest airline, has lost A$68m this year from the conflict with unions representing long-haul pilots, engineers and baggage handlers, as strikes led to flight cancellations. The stock has fallen 39 percent in 2011.
Based on its August traffic figures, the Sydney-based carrier flew more than 63,000 passengers on average every day.
Unions have stepped up action since Qantas announced plans in August to eliminate 1,000 jobs, reduce routes and establish new ventures in Southeast Asia and Japan.
Qantas engineers want to ensure maintenance on new aircraft such as Airbus SAS A380s and Boeing Co. 787s is done in Australia, as older planes like 767s are retired. The baggage handlers are seeking to stem the use of contract labour, while long-haul pilots want to be under the same employment conditions whether they fly for the Qantas-branded unit or Jetstar.
The grounding is “pre-meditated, unnecessary and grossly irresponsible,” the Australian & International Pilots Association said in a statement.
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